Merry Christmas!

Go Steelers!

We just watched the highlights of last night's Steeler game.

Najeeb stayed up to watch it, but Rana and I were sleeping

soundly by the time the Steelers scored at the buzzer to

beat the Packers 37 - 36.

"Roethlisberger throws...

Endzone

TOUCHDOWN

Michael Wallace

With no time left!"

Reading a Book

Sounds like an interesting book, doesn't it?

My Nose, My Toes, & Me!

Animals - Arabic

Rana is learning how to imitate lots of animal noises. In this clip, she also points to some of her features.

We're still working on getting good video of her doing it in English, so stay tuned! ;)

Conversations with a One-and-a-Half-Year-Old

At one and a half, Rana continues to be quite the conversationalist. She loves to read books and talk on the telephone - both with us and on her own. She is very playful and full of energy, and her sense of humor is more and more evident. She is starting to mimic us, too. She definitely keeps us smiling...

Happy Birthday, Annie!

The Lion King

Rana loves The Lion King. Here's a video of her watching one of her favorite scenes. Notice her anticipation of the many lines, sounds, and motions she has memorized.

Eid Mubarak - عيد مبارك

كل عام وأنتم بخير

We had a feast of roasted chicken and lamb tagine

to celebrate Thanksgiving and Eid on Friday.

Good food with good friends.

What fun to celebrate two holidays at once!

After dinner (and apple pie, of course!), we

walked into town to enjoy Marburg's Night of Lights

and met up with Stephane.

It was a very festive night!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Upcoming Appointments

Since our schedules are busier than ever,

Rana decided to help us keep track of her upcoming

doctor's appointments by adding them to the calendar.

She will be seeing a new neurologist and

an occupational therapist next week.

Real Shoes!

Winter arrived early in Marburg this year,

so it was time for Rana to upgrade to real shoes.

She loves them!

Thanks to Nana and Grandpa, her feet will be

cozy and warm all winter long in a pair of
Hush Puppies from good ol' Grand Rapids! ;)

Crayons!

Rana has been showing more interest in

pens and paper whenever we write anything,

so we pulled out her crayons this afternoon.

She had fun trying out every color in the cute

apron that Great Grandmar and Pop-pop gave her.

Sunglasses!

Another stay in the hospital...

Rana had a check-up with her neurologists this week and spent a couple of days in the hospital. She impressed the doctors, made it though the tests with a smile on her face, and had fun playing with her roommate, Baby Leanna. Here's a video of the two of them goofing off.

Unfortunately, the tests showed that there is still some seizure activity in Rana's brain, so the doctors are going to monitor her more closely again. We're not sure what to make of all of this since Rana appears to be doing so well. Hopefully, we'll get some answers over the next few months...

"Baby"

One of Rana's first words was "baby." She calls kids of any age "baby" and lovingly tends to her little baby doll. After her bath today, I found her in the bathroom pretending to put lotion on her baby.

I got rhythm, I got music...

I got rhythm, I got music...

Who could ask for anything more??

Recent Developments

Rana still loves music! Nedaa and Layal taught

her how to twirl while we were in Saudi Arabia,

so she has added it to her dance routine.

Here she is chitter-chattering with Uncle Wahib.

She is learning more real words, too. In this clip,

she says "hina", which means "here" in Arabic.

Few More...

A Trip to the Rhine

We took another trip to the Rhine with Tom and Janice this week.

We rented bikes and rode along the shore,

and found a creative way to keep Rana's head

from bobbing when she fell asleep in the bike seat!

We stopped to explore several little towns along the way

and had fun walking through the castles, too!

An Afternoon in the Park

We spent a few hours in the park this afternoon with Sophie.

Grandpa discovered a new trick with the stoller.

Good Times

We're having a good time with Annie's parents.

We've read some good books,

and taken walks through town,
stopping to shop at the Market Square.

Rana had a great time exploring the castle grounds.

And she had lots to say about it!

Coffee Tables and More

Rana loves to crawl around under coffee tables and other furniture.

This picture was taken in Najeeb's family's beautiful living

room, where Rana found lots of crawl spaces to explore!

Tomatoes!

Rana loves tomatoes. Because we forgot to put

them up on a higher shelf in the kitchen, she

grabbed one and ate it like it was an apple!!

Layover in Frankfurt

We met Annie's parents in the airport during their layover today.

It was good to see them!

We're looking forward to their real visit next week.

Rana's Dishes

While wandering through a shopping mall in Jeddah, a picture of Rana appeared on a television screen. A store owner called our attention to it and told us to go up to the security office because she could win a prize. What did she win? A 30-piece set of dishes! And, they made it all the way back to Germany with us on Friday with only a few scratches.

Aren't they pretty?!

Proper Attire

Jeddah

We ventured out in the heat this afternoon

to see the city in the daylight for a change!

Jeddah is a city of 3 million people.

The streets are full of people - in cars, on bikes,

pulling carts, and pedestrians walking in all directions.

Rana is rather enjoying her freedom in the car without a carseat!

Old buildings and random walls to the

city are still standing in some parts of the

city, but much of the city is pretty modern.

The coast of the Red Sea is lined with little

amusement parks for kids and picnic areas...

...which people really only take advantage

of at night when the temp drops a bit.

Mosques, Saudi royal palaces, shopping malls, and
sculptures like the ones below line the shore, too.

The View

This is the view from our window. The family lives in a nice neighborhood in central Jeddah. There are office buildings, shopping centers, lots of apartment buildings with stores on the ground floor, and a mosque on just about every corner! As you can see, there is one pretty much next door. The call for prayer and the prayers themselves echo through the air five times a day.

Ramadan in Jeddah

It is Ramadan. We're really enjoying the time with the family and

the wonderful, traditional meals at the end of our day of fasting.

This is Najeeb's father, Ahmed

Wahib, Najeeb and their cousin, Nabeel

Two of Nabeel's four kids, Abdullah and Ahmed

Rana really loves her cousins and second cousins!

She gave Baby Razan and Abdullah lots of kisses!